Plant traits conferred by isolated polynucleotides and polypeptides

Abstract

Provided are isolated polypeptides, isolated polynucleotides encoding same, nucleic acid constructs comprising same, transgenic cells expressing same, transgenic plants expressing same and method of using same for increasing yield, abiotic stress tolerance, growth rate, biomass, vigor, oil content, photosynthetic capacity, seed yield, fiber yield, fiber quality, fiber length, early flowering, grain filling period, harvest index, plant height, and/or nitrogen use efficiency of a plant.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of increasing at least one trait selected from the group consisting of biomass, plot coverage, rosette area, rosette diameter photosynthetic capacity, nitrogen use efficiency, and tolerance to nitrogen deficiency stress of a plant as compared to a control plant, comprising over-expressing within the plant a polypeptide at least 95% identical to an amino acid sequence set forth by SEQ ID NO: 15889 as compared to a control plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions, wherein said amino acid sequence comprises the domains depicted by InterPro numbers IPR032675 and IPR001810, thereby increasing the at least one trait selected from biomass, plot coverage, rosette area, rosette diameter, photosynthetic capacity, nitrogen use efficiency, and tolerance to nitrogen deficiency of the plant as compared to the control plant. 
     
     
       2. A method of increasing at least one trait selected from the group consisting of biomass, plot coverage, rosette area, rosette diameter photosynthetic capacity, nitrogen use efficiency, and tolerance to nitrogen deficiency stress of a plant as compared to a control plant, comprising over-expressing within the plant a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 15889, 17881 and 17882 as compared to a control plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions, thereby increasing the at least one trait selected from biomass, plot coverage, rosette area, rosette diameter, photosynthetic capacity, nitrogen use efficiency, and tolerance to nitrogen deficiency of the plant as compared to the control plant. 
     
     
       3. A method of producing a crop, comprising growing a crop plant over-expressing a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence at least 95% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth by SEQ ID NO: 15889 as compared to a control plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions, wherein said amino acid sequence comprises the domains depicted by InterPro numbers IPR032675 and IPR001810, wherein the crop plant is derived from plants which have been subjected to genome editing for over-expressing said polypeptide and/or which have been transformed with an exogenous polynucleotide encoding said polypeptide and which have been selected for at least one trait selected from the group consisting of increased biomass, increased plot coverage, increased rosette area, increased rosette diameter, increased photosynthetic capacity, increased nitrogen use efficiency, and/or increased tolerance to nitrogen deficiency stress as compared to a control plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions, and the crop plant has the at least one trait selected from increased biomass, increased plot coverage, increased rosette area, increased rosette diameter, increased photosynthetic capacity, increased nitrogen use efficiency, and/or increased tolerance to nitrogen deficiency-stress, thereby producing the crop. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 2 , wherein said polypeptide is expressed from an exogenous polynucleotide comprising the nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 407, 105, 2975 and 2976. 
     
     
       5. A nucleic acid construct comprising an isolated polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide which comprises an amino acid sequence at least 95% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth by SEQ ID NO: 15889, and a heterologous promoter for directing transcription of said nucleic acid sequence in a host cell, wherein said amino acid sequence comprises the domains depicted by InterPro numbers IPR032675 and IPR001810, and wherein said amino acid sequence is capable of increasing at least one trait selected from the group consisting of biomass, plot coverage, rosette area, rosette diameter, photosynthetic capacity, nitrogen use efficiency, and/or tolerance to nitrogen deficiency stress of a plant. 
     
     
       6. A nucleic acid construct comprising an isolated polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide which comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 15889, 17881 and 17882, and a heterologous promoter for directing transcription of said nucleic acid sequence in a host cell. 
     
     
       7. The nucleic acid construct of  claim 6 , wherein said nucleic acid sequence is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 407, 105, and 2975-2976. 
     
     
       8. A plant cell transformed with the nucleic acid construct of  claim 5 . 
     
     
       9. The plant cell of  claim 8 , wherein said plant cell forms part of a plant. 
     
     
       10. A transgenic plant comprising the nucleic acid construct of  claim 5 . 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising growing the plant over-expressing said polypeptide under nitrogen-limiting conditions. 
     
     
       12. A method of growing a crop, the method comprising seeding seeds and/or planting plantlets of a plant transformed with the nucleic acid construct of  claim 5 , wherein the plant is derived from plants which over-express said polypeptide and which have been selected for at least one trait selected from the group consisting of: increased nitrogen use efficiency, increased tolerance to nitrogen deficiency stress, increased biomass, increased plot coverage, increased rosette area, increased rosette diameter, and increased photosynthetic capacity, as compared to a control plant, thereby growing the crop. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising selecting a plant having at least one trait selected from the group consisting of increased biomass, plot coverage, rosette area, rosette diameter, photosynthetic capacity, nitrogen use efficiency, and/or tolerance to nitrogen deficiency stress as compared to a control wild type plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions. 
     
     
       14. A method of selecting a plant having at least one trait selected from the group consisting of increased biomass, plot coverage, rosette area, rosette diameter, photosynthetic capacity, nitrogen use efficiency, and/or tolerance to nitrogen deficiency stress as compared to a wild type plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions, the method comprising:
 (a) providing plants over-expressing a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence at least 95% identical to the amino acid sequence set forth by -SEQ ID NO: 15889, wherein said amino acid sequence comprises the domains depicted by InterPro numbers IPR032675 and IPR001810, 
 (b) selecting from said plants of step (a) a plant having at least one trait selected from increased biomass, plot coverage, rosette area, rosette diameter, photosynthetic capacity, nitrogen use efficiency, and/or tolerance to nitrogen deficiency stress as compared to a wild type plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions, 
 thereby selecting the plant having the at least one trait selected from increased biomass, plot coverage, rosette area, rosette diameter, photosynthetic capacity, nitrogen use efficiency, and/or tolerance to nitrogen deficiency stress as compared to the wild type plant of the same species which is grown under the same growth conditions. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 13 , wherein said selecting is performed under non-stress conditions. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 13 , wherein said selecting is performed under nitrogen deficiency stress conditions. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said polypeptide is set forth by SEQ ID NO: 15889. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 3 , wherein said polypeptide is set forth by SEQ ID NO: 15889. 
     
     
       19. The nucleic acid construct of  claim 5 , wherein said polypeptide is set forth by SEQ ID NO: 15889. 
     
     
       20. A plant cell transformed with the nucleic acid construct of  claim 6 . 
     
     
       21. The plant cell of  claim 8 , wherein said polypeptide is set forth by SEQ ID NO: 15889. 
     
     
       22. The transgenic plant of  claim 10 , wherein said polypeptide is set forth by SEQ ID NO: 15889. 
     
     
       23. The method of  claim 12 , wherein said polypeptide is set forth by SEQ ID NO: 15889. 
     
     
       24. The method of  claim 14 , wherein said polypeptide is set forth by SEQ ID NO: 15889.